A collection of stories, articles and photos based on my experiences living as an expat in Prague, the city of a hundred spires

Saturday, 22 July 2017

Prague Moments #12 - Home Alone in a Post Apocalyptic Prague?

One of my most magical Prague moments was getting up at the crack of dawn in April 2015 and watching the sunrise over the Charles Bridge. Last month, I almost repeated the experience by accident when I'd woken up at five a.m., unable to sleep. I only had a few more days in town, so I decided to get up and have a walk around town. My particular mission was to take photographs of each of the statues on the Charles Bridge, and this was only realistically possible early in the morning before the crowds made the task nigh on impossible.

I missed the sunrise this time by about thirty minutes, but the bridge was still relatively empty bar a few photographers, some hardy tourists and the ubiquitous Japanese wedding photo party! (I wonder if it was the same ones as last time?)

I managed to complete my task - I'll maybe publish another post in the future on that topic - and headed into town to see what else I could find in the early morning light. What I found blew me away!

Coming back off Karlovy Most, I headed down Karlova, a street I normally try and avoid because of the crowds. Apart from a few delivery vans and some store/restaurant staff taking in the deliveries, the street was completely deserted.

Karlova

I headed into the Old Town Square and found exactly the same phenomenon - there was one other person in the square. I walked on towards Wenceslas Square and the only life was a lady at one of the sausage stands, smoking a sneaky cigarette while the grills were warming up. It was a similar story around the back of the Estates Theatre, Můstek and Na Příkopě, all usually buzzing with people and life.

Old Town Square

Old Town Square

Wenceslas Square

For over an hour, I appeared to have Prague to myself. It was a bit like walking around a post apocalyptic cityscape. The beautiful skies of this time of year and this time of the morning gave the place real atmosphere and were reflected in the empty streets. Finally, I headed back to Ostrovni and went back to bed for a couple of hours while the city woke up around me and started filling the streets.

Life returns to the Old Town Square

Once again the city shared its magic with me, but please don't all go out and try this at the same time. It won't work!